Chapter 145 - 144: Water
Li Qingsong knew that even with such immense kinetic energy, the heavy spaceship couldn’t possibly destroy the asteroid.
The difference in mass between the two was simply too great.
But... it could knock the asteroid off its trajectory! It could prevent it from hitting Venus!
This method, though simple, was extremely effective.
It was like an out-of-control, unstoppable heavy-duty truck on a highway on Earth. Since you couldn’t stop it, you might as well use another vehicle to ram it. That way, it wouldn’t crash into the things people didn’t want it to.
At this moment, a real-life game of cosmic billiards was unfolding right beside Venus.
The heavy spaceship, weighing ten billion tons, slammed violently into the asteroid. In that instant, a brilliant flash of light erupted from the point of impact, as bright as the Sun.
Endless debris burst forth from the impact point, sweeping across the entire surrounding Star Domain like a meteor shower. Many of the fragments shot directly toward Venus.
But they were too small, and Venus’s atmosphere was more than thick enough.
Its density was over ninety times that of Earth’s atmosphere!
Even Earth’s atmosphere could burn up many small asteroids, to say nothing of the atmosphere of Venus.
Under intense friction, these small fragments were burned to nothing by Venus’s atmosphere before they could reach the planet’s surface or release any of their impact energy.
The asteroid itself, its orbit now knocked askew, grazed the edge of Venus and then plunged toward the Sun without a backward glance.
Presumably, after some time, it would crash into the Sun and become one with it.
And just like that, the crisis for the Blutuk People was resolved.
Li Qingsong’s expression grew even more grim.
He knew this method was now useless.
Even if he sent another ten or a hundred asteroids, it would be pointless.
Because Li Qingsong could see that in orbit around Venus, the Blutuk People had prepared at least a hundred of these super-heavy spaceships.
They orbited Venus at approximately 10 kilometers per second. When needed, they only required a slight acceleration, which wouldn’t take much time at all.
Placing them in orbit, letting them circle Venus, was in itself a way of storing a massive amount of kinetic energy in them ahead of time.
Li Qingsong’s plan to destroy the environment of Venus by means of asteroid impact had utterly failed.
But Li Qingsong knew that his overall strategy was not wrong.
He had to make the environment on Venus deteriorate again, to a point that even the Blutuk People couldn’t tolerate it. Only then could he win this war.
To make Venus’s environment worsen, the only way was to send objects from the outside to affect it.
The current failure was simply because he had chosen the wrong projectile.
’So... what should I choose as a projectile?’
This new projectile must, first of all, be capable of making Venus’s environment extremely hostile. Second, it must be impossible to intercept.
Anything that could be intercepted would inevitably be intercepted by the Blutuk People.
’What kind of projectile is impossible to intercept?’
Li Qingsong’s hundreds of millions of brains began to whir madly in unison.
An uninterceptable projectile seemed impossible. After all, it made no sense that he could accelerate it, yet the Blutuk People couldn’t stop it. How could such a strange substance exist in the Cosmos?
But, against all odds, Li Qingsong thought of one.
There was a substance that, once delivered to Venus, would both make its environment extremely hostile and be impossible for the Blutuk People to intercept!
This substance was very ordinary, very common.
Water!
First, water was impossible to intercept.
Because Venus is close enough to the Sun, the Sun’s energy would heat the water. And in the vacuum of space, without atmospheric pressure, the water would break down and exist in molecular form.
Once in the form of water molecules, a considerable portion of them would have their chemical bonds broken by solar radiation, further decomposing into oxygen and hydrogen atoms.
But that didn’t matter; that would only be a small portion. Most of the water would still exist in molecular form.
It would essentially be a molecular cloud, one that existed just like interstellar dust.
How could the Blutuk People intercept a mere molecular cloud, something that could almost be considered non-corporeal?
Second, after undergoing a series of complex chemical changes within Venus’s atmosphere, the addition of water would be more than enough to make its environment even more hostile—ten, even a hundred times more hostile than before!
In the Supercomputing Base, Li Qingsong immediately created a model and began running simulations to calculate how much water would be needed to induce his desired changes in Venus’s atmosphere.
After a round of calculations, an astonishing result appeared before Li Qingsong.
trillion tons!
Factoring in all potential losses en route, he would need to send approximately 10 trillion tons of water toward Venus to achieve the desired changes in its atmosphere!
The total amount of water in all of Earth’s atmosphere was only about 12.9 trillion tons.
Approximately 12.9 trillion tons of water created the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning on Earth, and it formed countless rushing rivers. And now, he had to hurl an amount of water roughly equivalent to the entire water content of Earth’s atmosphere at Venus.
’Where am I going to find that much water?’
Jupiter’s moons, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, as well as Saturn’s moons, Enceladus and Titan, all possessed vast quantities of water—their total water content was even greater than Earth’s.
But they were too far away.
Not only would the long journey result in immense losses, but for water existing as a molecular cloud, the Sun’s radiation pressure was also a problem that had to be considered.
The Sun’s radiation pressure would "blow" it away, causing it to dissipate into the vastness of space before it could even reach Venus.
’I have to find a water source that is close enough.’
’A planet close enough to Venus, with enough water for me to use... which one is it?’
Earth.
Only Earth.
Earth is the closest planet to Venus. And Earth has vast amounts of water.
Over 70% of Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. The deepest parts of the ocean exceed 11 kilometers!
The total water content of Earth’s four great oceans is approximately 1.33 quintillion tons, unquestionably far more than the 10 trillion tons he needed.
But no matter what method he used to draw these 10 trillion tons of water from the surface into space and then send them to Venus, it would represent an engineering project of absolutely staggering proportions.
And this would obviously have a severe impact on Earth.
’Leaving aside how I would even pump that much water up and hurl it at Venus, even if I could do it... should I really do it?’
’Earth is my home.’
’Earth gave birth to me, to our Human Civilization. My people spent untold ages on its surface, and even I have countless wonderful memories of it.’
’It isn’t just a home; it’s my spiritual anchor.’
’Even with the war against the Blutuk Civilization being so brutal and intense, even under this immense pressure, I have always been meticulously protective of Earth, trying my best not to let it be drawn in.’
’Other than building the Supercomputing Base and its necessary support facilities on the surface, I haven’t subjected Earth to any industrial development.’
’And... a project this massive would very likely cause Earth’s entire ecosystem to collapse.’
’Am I... going to destroy Earth’s ecosphere with my own hands?’
Li Qingsong thought silently for a few seconds, then resolutely made his decision.
’If I’m defeated, the Blutuk People will care even less about Earth’s ecology.’
’They came to the Solar System purely for predatory exploitation. They will only ruin the Solar System, ruin Earth, even more completely!’
’It’s better that I destroy Earth’s ecosystem with my own hands than let the Blutuk People do it! Besides, if I win, I might just be able to restore it!’
’A destroyed ecosystem can be rebuilt. But if I’m gone, Earth is well and truly finished!’
’Then it’s settled. I’ll do it!’